Warm weather adds to St. Patrick’s Day festive spirit

Hundreds of Ottawa residents skipped the beer-fuelled St. Patricks Day celebrations at bars Saturday evening and instead descended on area churches for a chance to learn more about Irish culture.

Watering holes all over downtown Ottawa were packed with partiers looking to celebrate the annual holiday that honours Irelands patron saint. Patios were opened and people flocked to grab seats outside in the early spring sunshine thanks to temperatures that stretched into double digits.

The thermometer hit a high of 14 C for the day at around 4 p.m., Environment Canada said, which is just shy of the record 16.3 C set in 2010. It was still far higher than the average for the day, though, which is 3 C.

Other revellers, however, took to the basements at area churches for a chance to learn some Irish dance moves, listen to live bands playing traditional music and sample some of the food popular on the Emerald Isle as part of their St. Patricks celebrations.

Im not fussy about the green beer and the whole craziness about it, but I think its pretty cool though that even if youre not Irish and you have no Irish heritage, people think that this is a great time to celebrate, said Sheila Scott, a first generation Canadian whose parents came to Canada from Ireland in 1957.

She estimated they were going to have about 120 people for the ceilidh a Gaelic word that means gathering at the Blessed Sacrament Church in the Glebe.

Were competing with every pub in town and we still manage to get a pretty good crowd, she said.

Over at St. Patricks Basilica on Kent Street, dozens of people sat down in front of tables covered in green cloth in preparation for a meal of Irish stew and potatoes. A man wearing a green kilt greeted people at the door while cutouts of green shamrocks hung on the basement ceiling.

It is people coming together and having a good time, said Brendan Hennigan, one of the events organizers. Thats what its about.

Others, including a young child wearing a green shirt and an older man wearing a green sweater, were going through some slow-motion steps to learn a dance in preparation for the performance by the Cape Breton Session Fiddles later in the evening.

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Warm weather adds to St. Patrick’s Day festive spirit